– Health Quality, Access, and Outcomes
– Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Education, and Workforce
– Community and Government Relations & Partner Development
– Community Engagement
What drew us to C-TAC is our relationship with Respecting Choices and all the great work that is being done by CTAC for serious illness care. Ochsner Health has realized that the care of those with serious illness is often poorly coordinated and services offered are based on sources of payment (private, state, federal insurance) rather than care needs. We are pleased to join with the Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum to lead a serious illness coalition with the collaboration and mentorship of C-TAC. We are learning from a diverse group of stakeholders in Louisiana and with coalitions across the country on how to improve serious illness care. C-TAC has already been working on policy issues to make these ideas materialize.
One of the issues confronted daily is the lack of evidence-based skills in engaging patients and families in conversations to make sure the care we are providing represents what matters most to them. We had begun a systematic approach to teaching the three aspects of the Respecting Choices curriculum (First Steps, Advance Steps, and Shared Decision Making in Serious Illness) prior to COVID but quickly realized that communication was one of the most important skills needed for the care of those affected by COVID and their families. Amid the pandemic, we quickly pivoted to rapid cycle improvements in this education and talking points distributed to our teams. Concurrently, Ochsner Health and the University of Queensland Medical School/Ochsner Clinical School invested in the training of all 4th-year medical students and Xavier Ochsner Health Physician Assistant program students in Advance Steps as a condition for graduation. We also began teaching all 2nd-year residents as well as hospital and critical care medical staff and the respective advance practice professionals in Shared Decision Making in Serious Illness conversations. Improvements in EPIC and the Advance Care Planning module have allowed team transitions to be able to follow the care plans discussed and developed by a previous team. This allows us to provide the best care possible to all those we are privileged to care for.
Ochsner Health, in partnership with C-TAC and Respecting Choices, is looking forward to achieving our goals to improve serious illness care and inspire healthier lives and stronger communities in the State of Louisiana.
